PANAJI: The Crime Branch of the Goa police on Wednesday evening arrested three more absconding accused in the Deepak Gadekar case in which a businessman from Mangalore was robbed of Rs 10.20 lakh on the pretext of conversion of old currency on December 1.
The police said Atmaram Malwankar(31), Gautam Korgaonkar(31), and Pritesh Agarwadekar(21), all from north Goa, have been charged under Sections 120-B and 395 of the Indian Penal Code.
Some cash was also recovered, said Karthik Kashyap, Superintendent of Police in-charge of Crime Branch. These arrests were made after the case was handed over to the Crime Branch.
On December 14, three people, including two policemen, were arrested and remanded to 10-day custody.
According to initial police complaint, an RTI activist Deepak Gadekar and four others had allegedly robbed a businessman Karthik Kotiam, who wanted to exchange Rs.10.20 lakh in new notes for demonetised notes as he had been assured that he would get extra Rs. 6 lakh for the exchange. Gadekar had allegedly arranged a meeting with the businessman in a hotel at Baga on December 1 while his other accomplices were waiting in a car. Gadekar allegedly snatched the bag containing notes and fled while his partners tried to kidnap Mr. Kotiam. But the plan failed.
Mr. Kotiam however, registered the complaint only on December 14. The incident had occurred on December 1 but in the hope of getting the money the case was not registered. Finally, on December 14 Mr. Kashyap registered a police complaint which named Gadekar and the police action began.
During investigation, it came to light that two police personnel from the Calangute police station were also involved. “So far we have recovered Rs. 8 lakh of the total Rs. 10.2 lakh,” Mr. Kashyap said.
